I’m not a mystic, but what I am about to tell you is the true story of Jim Hathaway, a crotchety old editor who found a way to give me the exact writing advice I needed, at the critical moment — and even better — several years after he was dead and buried. Given Jim’s strength of will, I doubt even cremation would have stopped him.

Jim was a member of The Lafayette Park Writers, a critique group of retired editors, columnists, English professors, novelists, and one traveling actress. Each week they met in a city parks and rec building and enthusiastically welcomed each newbie who fell in off the street. Each of the core members was experienced and nurturing, and each in his own right could have lit up Sin City on the sheer strength of his personality and charm. But even in that group, Jim stood out.

Tall, svelte, and mostly bald, Jim wore double-knit pants and white shoes. He had a pugnacious delivery, a voice like a cheese grater, and in spite of his liver-spotted skin and huge ears, blue eyes as round and eager as any eight-year-old boy’s. I admired a lot about Jim, but the quality I most respected was his life-long elasticity, his willingness to reinvent his skills, his writing, and himself with each new physical challenge or technical advance placed before him. In writing and in life you could always spot Jim; he was the barefoot, shirtless boy skateboarding fearlessly down Breakneck Hill.

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About the Blog

Writer’s Roadhouse is that wooden table in your favorite place where you meet your friends. The cold beer, the slaps on the back, the circle of smiles as you pull out a chair and sit down. Each Tuesday you’ll find a writing topic, a question, and an open discussion on the craft and process of writing. The subjects will be pulled from a question you ask or something I’ve puzzled over myself. The idea is to gather advice and debate technique, but we won’t get far if you don’t join in.

If inspiration strikes I’ll also blog on Fridays, but these will be more about life than writing.